Fangirl's Curse
by MsLanna
Summary: Somebody messed with Boba Fett’s mind, and Lanna has to suffer the consequences.Look out for the sequel...
1. Chapter 1

**Genre:** Humour/nonsense/romance, almost  
**Timeframe: **Dreamtime, most likely  
**Characters: **Boba Fett, me, miscellaneous  
**Summary: **Somebody messed with Boba Fett's mind, and Lanna has to suffer the consequences  
**Notes: **This is what happens if your fanficcing mind roams free, tries to relax, and gets fed unhealthy ideas. Substandard goods of the brain, so to speak.

**Fangirl's curse**

** Chapter 1 **

The morning was grey, icy, and full of tiny snowflakes swirling in a soft breeze and getting everywhere. _Flying open landspeeders in such weather is hazardous,_ thought Lanna, _but I'd give my right arm for one!_

Small heaps of white crystals had built up on her jacket while she tried to kick her speederbike back to life. She had taken off her bulky gloves, only to have her fingers frozen within the minute. And still no sign of life from her bike.

Suddenly she kicked it hard in frustration. "I'll be late, and it's all your fault," she yelled at the vehicle, which took the assault stoically. A few more prods and kicks at the correct places convinced it to work again, though. Grumbling, Lanna remounted and continued her way to the Morakti Mall.

Of course she was late, and her boss complained and threatened to cut her wages. After all, this was already the third time this week -- and it was only Thursday. Fuming, Lanna assumed her post behind the counter, searching for her professional sales face.

"Good Morning, sir. How can I help you?" she beamed at the next customer.

--------------------- 

The day dragged on endlessly, and of course the last hour took longest to elapse. By the time Lanna could knock off work, the smile felt chiselled into her face. But the boss had been watching her closely the whole day, probably looking for a reason to boot her out. _The Sith take that speederbike,_ Lanna though ruefully. _Or winter. The speeder was a sissy when it came to cold._

Pulling her coat close, Lanna secured her scarf and pulled on her thick gloves. She looked pretty much like a black snowman now, and felt about as mobile as one. "Blasted cold," she muttered, "bet the speeder will break down at least once again on my way home." 

After several attempts, the speederbike came to life, and the Lanna drove off. During the day it had stopped snowing, and everybody tried to get a last ray of sunlight by using the highest air-lanes they could. Close down to the ground, Lanna was crossed by zigzagging shadows of all sizes.

Two blocks from home, the bike broke down. With a sigh, Lanna dismounted and peered into its interior. As always, there was nothing unusual to be seen. She kicked the vehicle half-heartedly and was surprised by the loud rattling that ensued. When she looked up, however, she realized the sound had not come from her speeder at all. Next to her right mudguard lay a heap of crumpled green armour.

Irritatedly Lanna gazed up, but none of the vehicles slowed or showed any other way that they might have lost something. _Bet it scratched my coat of paint badly, too, _she thought bitterly as she went around her speeder to investigate. 

When she arrived, the supposed heap had already begun to rearrange itself into a man in green body armour. Not thinking, she extended her hand to help the man up. "You all right?" she asked. 

Ignoring her hand, the stranger got up, straightened his armour, and answered her question with a curt nod. At any other man Lanna would have snapped a remark about politeness, but the heap of armour had by then transformed into the figure of Boba Fett. And who would dare argue about polite behaviour with the galaxy's most notorious bounty hunter? Lanna didn't. _Great, _she thought, _it's raining bounty hunters._

Shaking her head, she returned her attention to her speeder, opening up its side to get a look at the engines. _What was it that customer had said I should check? _she wondered. _Was it the thrust damper? Or the field rotation generator? Does my speeder HAVE a field rotation generator? And just where are speederbike technicians when you need them?_

The Lanna reached out to twiddle the first knob that looked the least bit twiddleable, when suddenly a gloved hand gripped her wrist like a clamp.

"Hey!" she snapped, turning in the direction of the arm. And found herself just a few inches from Boba Fett's helmet. Lanna over came her first impulse, which was to ram the top of her head into the assumed position of the bounty hunter's nose. Mandalorian armour was most likely much harder than her skull. She tried to glare instead. The effect was questionable, since the visor of the aforementioned helmet was tinted.

All this thinking had taken Lanna so long that by the time she opened her mouth to snap some more at him, Fett was already speaking. "You don't want to loosen the break-liquid conduit control," came his filtered voice.

Lanna clapped her mouth shut. He was right -- that was something she certainly didn't want to do. Tentatively she withdrew her hand, but if she had expected Fett to loosen his grip now, she was disappointed. He still held it fast. She glanced, slightly annoyed, from the hand clasping hers fiercely to his face and back. After only a few repetitions of the exercise, the bounty hunter seemed to understand and let go. Lanna immediately began to vigorously rub the life back into her hand.

"So, what _would_ I want to do?" she asked.

Instead of answering, Fett shoved her away and had his hands working in the engine compartment before Lana could blink her eyes. _Maybe,_ she thought, _sometimes speederbike mechanics DID fall from the sky when you need them._

Fett opened a tool compartment Lanna didn't even know existed and began to undo all the damage her previous repairs had done.

While he was busy on the speeder, Lanna began to wonder if it as wise to offer him a ride -- or wise not to. There were still some transports around, but most of them used higher lanes. OK, he had just fallen from the sky, scratching her precious paint job, but after all he repaired her speeder, as well. At least she hoped he would. Not to mention that he was the most dangerous bounty hunter around. And if he didn't manage to repair the speeder, he could still help her push -- the loud clap of Boba Fett shutting her engine compartment yanked Lanna back to reality.

"You should have no more problems with it now," he said.

"Thank you," Lanna answered and wished fervently that acting against ones will was as easy as all those holovids always pretended. "Do you need a ride?"

The bounty hunter looked from the woman to the speeder and back. The seat was long enough to hold two. Lanna brought friends home often enough to know that, but it was also short enough to make the experience rather cosy.

The thought of the galaxy's most notorious bounty hunter hanging on to her waist while she drove though the city didn't seemed very inviting. Neither was the idea of her hanging on to the waist of the galaxy's most notorious bounty hunter while_ he_ sped though the city. Lanna hoped strongly he would decline. She prayed that, where bounty hunters fell from the sky, their ships soon followed. Even if that meant sudden death.

To her utter horror, Boba Fett answered, "Yes, thank you. That would be nice."

_He has not just said "thank you" and "nice",_ Lanna thought, alarmed. _I'm hallucianting, oh, yes, there was only a curt nod, none of this polite un-Fett-like stuff._

While Lanna was still trying to sort reality and imagination Fett, claimed the driver's seat. He glanced at her over his shoulder, and reluctantly Lanna took a few steps towards her now-occupied speeder. "Great," she muttered to herself. "I'll make a pretty big fool out of myself." Then she suddenly hoped very much that Fett had shut off his audio enhancers. 

Boba Fett did not only know how to repair a speederbike, he also knew how to fly one. At least that was what Lanna hoped, while she clung on to the bounty hunter for dear life. He drove through the city at a speed Lanna had thought impossible and was sure to be forbidden. After the first few meters she clamped her eyes shut and, to her own embarrassment, tried to huddle her face somewhere next to his rocket pack.

Lanna prayed fervently that they would reach Fett's destination soon. At the same time, she thanked the Gods profoundly that she had not eaten dinner yet. The vision of her half-digested meal splattered all over Fett's Mandalorian armour was not one she particularly wanted to come true.

Boba Fett raced through the streets with abandon, as if he had nine lives and was ready to squander them all on this one ride. With her eyes firmly shut and all muscles taut, Lanna clasped his waist and waited for the ride to end.

Finally Fett had mercy and brought the speeder to a halt. He jumped off lightly an nodded in her direction. Lanna did not trust her legs to hold her up, so she just grabbed the handles with shaking hands and pulled herself forward. Since she didn't trust her voice much either, she only nodded in return and eased the bike back onto the lane at a crawl. She was much to tense to see that Fett actually raised his hand to wave goodbye.

As soon as she was out of sight, Lanna stopped her speeder at the side of the road and violently threw up what little had been in her stomach. Huddled in the snow, she mused that Boba Fett, even if he was not after your head, was a man very dangerous to your health.


	2. Chapter 2

** Chapter 2 **

The next morning Lanna was actually early for work. This was completely the fault of her speederbike, which did not even do so much as twitch. It had acquired a whole new sound as well, and sounded like a normal speeder again.

Mr. Rend, her boss, looked as astonished as Lanna when she arrived at the shop, and in his surprise couldn't find anything for her to do. On a Friday morning this was not very surprising, since it was the most quite day of the week. Most customers waited until Saturday to storm the shop for last-minute gifts and useless decorations.

The only interesting event of the day was the arrival of new goods. The unwrapping, pricing and sorting of all the new merchandise could fill up most of the day -- if she worked slowly enough. And she could always hope that some of her friends might drop in for a chat.

For the first time in a long while Lanna stood behind the counter at nine sharp. There were no customers in sight to appreciate this feat, though, and even Mr. Rend had retired to his office to take care of some paperwork. After looking around encouragingly and trying to appear busy, Lana gave it up and began to tidy up the shelves. But she found it difficult to draw this activity out, so it would last until the new commodities arrived.

Around midday Lanna had completely given up on trying to look busy tidying up and instead lurked beneath the counter, reading from a datapad she had smuggled in. She kept one eye on the door, hoping the goods would arrive any moment, and looking out for any more stray customer. So far there had been only five in the shop, and none had actually bought anything. Additionally, Lanna began to wonder if Mr. Rend had taken an overdose of caf and needed help.

Finally the door opened, but instead of the expected commodities, Boba Fett arrived. Lanna shut her pad, donned her professional smile, and watched him come up to the counter. _Whatever he might want_, she wondered. Without looking to either side, the bounty hunter strode up and came to halt in front of her.

"Good day, sir," Lanna greeted him. "Are you looking for something special?"

Fett did not answer immediately. But just when Lanna decided to try again he said, "I came looking for you." The tone of his voice, filtered as it was, still indicated that this answer surprised him as much as her.

"Me?" Lanna asked incredulously. "What do you want from me?"

Again there came no immediate answer. Instead, the bounty hunter cocked his head slightly, as if thinking. Then he slowly shook his head, as if lost, turned, and went out again. Lanna couldn't help staring at the door until long after he left. Now _that_ was strange behaviour.

She was still staring when Mr. rend came to relieve her for lunch. Shaking her head, Lanna went into the small kitchenette to heat a pack of instant noodle-soup of an undefined salty flavour. It tasted of whatever you had on your mind, so usually Lanna tried to think if nerf or gornt -- it worked every time.

With Boba Fett on her mind, things became difficult. Because Lanna certainly didn't want Boba-flavoured soup, she tried hard to think of chicken instead -- with most questionable results. Her concentration lasted only for short periods, and then the soup began to taste of Boba Fett again -- or worse, chicken in Mandalorian armour.

Finally, Lanna gave up and dumped the cold soup in the sink. Opening her pad again, she hoped the latest net-novel could keep her from brooding. _Concussion_, she thought repeatedly. _Must be a really bad case of concussion._

By the time Lanna had to return to work, she had stowed the incident of the morning away far in the back of her mind. Before he left, Mr. Rend gave Lanna a detailed set of instructions on how to close up the shop -- as if Lanna hadn't done it hundreds of times before. She suspected he had either a small neurosis about it or simply liked being a nitpicker. She nodded her head through the litany, promised several times to make sure, and then saw Mr. Rend out with a sigh of relief. _Thanks a lot, but I know what I'm doing_, she thought.

As if on cue, Lanna's friends Cally, Jarend and Stini entered, taking up chat-positions around the counter. They looked pretty excited. Lanna thought that might be because of the Jizz night with live music they'd planned to attend the following night, which was awaited with anticipation. But that assumption was soon proven wrong.

"Did you know," Cally burst out before anybody had the chance to say hello to anybody else, "that Boba Fett is in the city inquiring after you?"

Lanna stood behind the counter, dumbstruck. "He is?" she asked.

All three nodded vigorously, the need for greetings forgotten. "He went around our quarter with a picture of you," Jarend provided. "Everybody is talking about it, though most don't seem to recognize you-"

"Because it's such a gross picture," Stini interrupted him. "You're all wrapped up in black winter clothing, with your nose all frozen red. And that cap is positively ridiculous!"

Lanna sighed. Trust Stini to bring up on fashion.

"My aunt Pheelia met him," Jarend went on. "She said he just grabbed her straight from the street, showed her the picture, and asked where that woman was." After a short pause he added, "She wouldn't have told him, of course, if she had not been so very frightened. He is Boba Fett, after all." Despite his excitement, Jarend managed to sound apologetic.

"Why didn't he use a better picture?" Stini mused, still wrapped up in considering fashion and beauty. "There are so many beautiful pictures of you, and in that one you were hardly recognizable. I bet Pheelia was the first to recognize you. Probably guessed it from the bad excuse for a jacket you were wearing."

"Why is there a bounty hunter after you?" Cally asked her. "Did you do something criminal?"

Slowly Lanna shook her head. "Nothing I know of," she answered. "And nothing I can think of is worth even a single credit on my head."

"Well, we just wanted to let you know," Jarend said, obviously feeling heroic. "So you can get away before he gets you."

Lanna gave him a flat look. "Fett has already been here", she said.

All three gasped in unison. "What did he want?" they asked in unison.

"I don't know," Lanna said, raising her hands. "He came in, said he was looking for me, and when I asked him why, he just left again. I'm as confused as you are." _Well, probably more,_ Lanna conceded to herself. _After all, it's my life that might be in danger._

"He came _here_," Cally breathed excitedly. "What a shame to have missed that." She even looked a little disappointed, as if the bounty hunter was an attraction she had missed.

Since a few more minutes of excited discussion did not bring any more interesting details up, the conversation soon turned to more important things -- the Live Jizz Night at "Mighty Morak Cantina" the following night.

"Jinn and Wanda got us all tickets," Cally explained, "so we will meet at Charley's and have dinner before we go. Silv, Shana, and Dero will be there, but Dero must later meet Kerran and his new girl outside because they have to work late…"

"And Jereko said he'll come too," Stini said, with a knowing smile at Lanna. "Said he'd come for 'the company', so you'd better dress up." He measured her from head to toe. "I'll come and help you, if you'd like."

Knowing Stini's fondness for flashy outfits, Lanna declined. She would not end up with a two-foot collar of exotic feathers again. _It's no wonder most girls leave Stini after a short time,_ she thought. _You need a blazing ego to be happy with his idea of fashion._

"We'll see you tomorrow, then," Cally said on the way to the door. "And if you don't come, we'll just assume Fett got you." All three left the shop laughing.

Lanna didn't laugh. The talk of Boba Fett walking around and inquiring after her made her very uneasy. Why hadn't he just walked up to her apartment? It wasn't hard to find after all. As far as she knew, she was the only Mahalia Lanna in town.

Then she remembered that he had asked around with a picture of her in her black speederbike jacket, when there were many better pictures of her available -- for everybody who knew her name. And he hadn't.

He must have taken the picture the evening before, with some fancy gear inside that helmet, most likely. He hadn't know her name or address, and it seemed he had been asking for the "current" whereabouts of the woman in his picture.

Only to clearly Lanna could see aunt Pheelia whimpering in his grip, gushing out, "It's Mahalia Lanna, she's working at Rend's Gift Paradise in the Morakti Mall." So he had come here. But why? She had never seen him until he dropped on her speederbike the day before.

Her speederbike! _That must be it_, Lanna thought suddenly. He must have done something to it, or hidden something and had come to reclaim it. But What? And why should he do something like that? And why should he have come into the shop at all and then behaved like an idiot, if all he needed was her speeder?

Lanna was perplexed. But she would be sure to take a good look at her speeder before she got back on it this evening. _For all the frigging good that would do, _she sighed. _With my technical skills, he could plant a detonator in there and I'd never even suspect._

--------------------------------------------

Her speederbike looked untouched when she approached it after work. Lanna couldn't find anything out of the ordinary, even after very close scrutiny. Not that this meant a lot. After powering up, it did not explode in her face, which Lanna took as a good sign. Additionally, it still sounded the way it had in the morning -- meaning in very good order.

Nonplussed, Lanna mounted and drove home without any incident. _This is not making any sense at all_, she thought confused.


	3. Chapter 3

** Chapter 3   
**

Lanna kept seeing Boba Fetts everywhere. Either he was playing hide and seek with her, or, more likely, she was simply on the verge of going stark raving mad.

It had already begun on her way home from work. She thought she had seen him twice -- once standing in the dark doorway of a house, and the second time crossing a side street, which was, of course, nonsense. Then Lanna had blamed the hallucinations on being tired, along with Fett's strange behaviour at Mr. Rend's -- just her subconscious trying to make sense of the events.

With a bounty hunter, that meant being hunted. Which was, when looked at logically, complete nonsense. By now he certainly knew where she lived, and it would be much easier to simply wait for her there. If he even wanted something from her at all, that is.

Of course, there was no bounty hunter waiting with a raised blaster in her apartment. Neither could she find a note threatening her with an immediate and sudden demise. As far as Lanna could tell, the flat was completely untouched.

--------------------------------

If Lanna had expected that everything would be fine again the next morning, she was disappointed. By the time she retrieved her speeder from the lot, Lanna could have sworn she saw the bounty hunter lingering in a gateway across the street. By the time she had turned around for a closer look, the gateway was, of course, empty. Still, as soon as she turned around the corner, she was sure she'd seen him cross the street behind her. Unfortunately, you cannot really turn around on a running speederbike in the middle of the street to take a second glance.

And that was only the beginning.

On her way to work, Lanna kept seeing Boba Fett at every other corner, in most doorways, and even one or two shop windows. No amount of eye-blinking, head-shaking, or annoyed muttering could do anything to stop the visitations. She hoped this paranoia would wear off in the shop -- he could hardly hide in there.

She wished. In the middle of a sales talk, she glimpsed him from the corner of her eye, standing either far across the shop, or on the opposite side of the way in the mall outside. Whenever she was able to get a good look at the place in question, there would be nobody there. _If this does not stop over the weekend,_ Lanna decided, _I'll get a psychiatrist first thing on Monday! _

As soon as her shift was over, Lanna hurried home -- since she didn't dare to look up, right, or left as she drove, she was pretty much a danger to all traffic around her, but at least she didn't see any more Bobas, either.

At home she sat down with a chocolate-flavoured stim-caf, trying to get into the mood of the evening ahead. _The evening with Jereko, _she corrected herself. That was really something to look forward to. Musing, Lanna stood before her closet, wondering what kind of dress would most appeal to him.

Jereko was tall, lean, and bordering on skinny. Most remarkable about him were his steel-grey eyes that seemed to sparkle with amusement all the time. And though his hair was of the same nondescript galaxy-gutter brown you got everywhere, it always looked tousled in a most endearing way. Lanna had quite a crush on him and had tried to get his attention for several weeks. Finally, it seemed that she had accomplished something

In the end Lanna decided on a black-and-red dress with straps knotted on the shoulders, matching high heels, and makeup. The outfit was completed by her black purse -- a steel-enforced bane of unwanted admirers and their noses. 

After a last twirl before the mirror, Lanna grabbed some translucent nail polish for emergencies with her tights and her long coat, and made it for public transport. _Those designers would never get the idea that a girl might want to ride a speederbike wearing short skirts, _she thought, disgruntled. 

------------------------------------------------------

In Charley's, Cally and Jarend had already secured Lanna a place directly opposite Jereko. And he did grin back at her when she gave him a big smile! In her excitement Lanna mostly pushed the food around on her plate rather than eating it. A promising start, indeed. 

Only five minutes later Stini appeared, looking as if he had just jumped out of the latest fashion magazine. At his side was an incredibly beautiful girl in a tiny but very sparkly and flashy outfit. She didn't seem to feel awkward at all. Lanna granted her a real chance with Stini for that alone. Passing Jereko, Stini taunted, "Whatever you are doing here? I don't think the Dead Ewoks are on schedule tonight."

Jereko rolled his eyes up dramatically, shooting Lanna a quick smile before he did so, and answered, "Well, I didn't hear we would get to vote for Mr. Fashion, either." 

Laughing, Stini countered, "Since I'm around, the competition is cancelled anyway. Even winning can get boring." He took his girl's hand and led her down the table, where he waited for everybody's attention. "May I introduce," he announced with a bow," Laiara, the most beautiful and charming hyperdrive engineer to ever graduate college."

The girl was greeted by a murmur of surprised "hellos" -- most of Lanna's friends seemed to be as taken aback as she felt. It was difficult to imagine Laiara in a dirty overall wielding a hydro-spanner, all right. If Lanna hadn't been so preoccupied with Jereko, she might have been curious to learn more about Stini's newest conquest.

As things stood, though, she turned her attention back to Jereko immediately. She had managed to monopolize him with a discussion about the 'Dead Ewoks' influence on bands like 'The Siths' and 'COMPNOR', which he readily accepted as an excuse to talk her into seeing the next gig in town with him. Lanna was more than happy.

"Of course, you won't have to stand in the thick of action," he offered protectively. "All that jumping can get pretty violent, but I'll be around." He smiled at Lanna and actually blushed a little. 

Lanna thought he was absolutely adorable. The probability of one of his favourite bands coming along was small, but he'd certainly find something local. The idea of a protective Jereko appealed to Lanna a lot.

"I'm sure it will be great," she replied, grinning broadly from one ear to the other. "Maybe we could meet someday next week, and you could lend me some of the music-cards?"

Nodding, Jereko said, "That's a good idea. I'll make you a compilation of the most important songs." 

Lanna beamed at him happily. This was exactly the way to get things rolling.

The evening was the best Lanna ever had. Jereko war a great dancer -- he had all the moves down perfectly. So when he suddenly froze in mid-move, staring toward the entrance, and she toppled ungraciously on the floor because he forgot to catch her, Lanna knew something bad had happened. Looking around, she saw that most of the other patrons had stopped to stare as well. Lanna hoped fervently that this didn't mean what she feared it did.

Slowly, she turned her head to see the inevitable: Boba Fett had just entered the house.

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To be sitting between two guys who both had a crush on one was usually a very pleasant experience. But that ceased to be true if one of them was Boba Fett who, though he had his legs crossed in your direction, kept his arms folded over his chest and, in spite of his mask, managed to look indignant.

It became even worse if the other guy was Jereko, whom you really liked, but who seemed too easily affected by the glaring bounty hunter and was right then going back on all the advances he had made so far. It was especially aggravating when you had planned to get at least two slow dances with him, moving in a way that would convince him to, finally, ask you for a date. Preferably after kissing.

But nothing seemed to be further from Jereko's thoughts. He even squirmed. Not a respectable thing to do for a young man his age when he actually should be courting. Lanna was not happy with his behaviour. He avoided her eyes, and when she dared to gaze at him longer, he hung his head, almost wringing his hands. He probably very much wished to be somewhere else right then.

When she could bear it no more, Lanna signalled Cally for help. Her friend got up and indicated the ladies's room with her head. Lanna nodded. Carefully she extricated herself from between the two men, grabbed Cally's hand, and followed her across the hall.

"He is driving me crazy," she shouted at Cally. "What is he doing here anyway? I didn't know bounty hunters like him enjoyed a Jizz night out, too."

Because of the surrounding noise, Cally seemed to understand only bits and pieces of what Lanna had said. "What did you say? Crazy? But then those bounty hunter types always are," she shouted over her shoulder. 

Resigned, Lanna waited until the door of the 'freshers had closed behind them before she tried another time. "What in all Sith-hells does he want here? And why does he keep sitting right next to me, when there is so much space all over the place?"

Cally regarded her image in the mirror, plucking at her hair and checking for runny makeup. "I don't know," she said determinedly rubbing at a patch of stray rouge. "But he is not really acting up to the occasion, is he now? One could at least have expected him to show off a bit for us."

Lanna watched incredulously, while Cally tweaked her hair back into shape. _Showing off? _she wondered. _Wasn't it bad enough that he sat staring at her all evening? There was NO need at all to get twirled around the floor by him, too. _Quickly she tried to ban the picture of Boba Fett hitting the dance floor from her mind. She was about as successful with it as she had been with the chicken soup.

"I think you'd better go home," Cally suddenly said, turning toward Lanna. "He's making everybody nervous." By "he," of course, she meant Boba Fett. 

Lanna sighed. It had been such a wonderful evening until...until Mr. Fett had stalked in and ruined everything. _Who does he think he is? _she wondered angrily. Hanging her head, she nodded. "I'm afraid you're right," Lanna conceded. "I shouldn't ruin the evening for everybody else, too."

Cally hugged her. "We will miss you," she said and was gone.

Lanna stood gazing at her reflection for a while. _I just have to tell him clearly that he is not wanted, _she thought. Her lips twisted into a tight grin. _At least I won't have to get a psychiatrist on Monday. _

She grabbed her purse, wondering if its steel-reinforced bottom would make a dent in Fett's helmet -- or if the bounty hunter wore a cod piece.

Cally had already announced her departure, and when Lanna returned to the group everybody stood up to hug her good-bye. Everybody except Jereko, that was. Lanna felt like strangling Fett with her bare hands, or shoving that helmet up unlikely places. But the object of her anger sat calmly in the exact place he had when she had left. He could have been a statue for all he moved.

"Take care," Jarend told her. "I'll call you tomorrow … to see if .. if nothing happened," he added, with a side glance toward Boba Fett.

Lanna nodded. "Don't worry -- I'll be all right." With a last look at her friends she left.

Of course, her public transport left just the moment that Lanna got to the stop. She could see its taillights disappearing around the corner and cursed. Then she decided to walk to the next station so she wouldn't freeze to death. And all because of that stupid bounty hunter.

The aforementioned fortunately didn't seem to have followed her, because Lanna felt more than ready to apply her purse to any available part of his body at that moment. She fumed, again wondering whether the bounty hunter wore a codpiece or not. _It would be a pity, _she though grimly, _if all the places that really hurt would be covered with armour. _

---------------------------------- 

When she arrived at home Lanna had cooled down a little. Unfortunately, mostly physically, her mind was still rolling in an angry red haze. Still she did not see Boba Fett coming up the stairs after her. She would have expected his boots to make a lot more noise than they actually were, and so suspected nothing.

But when she turned to close the door, she almost banged head-first into Boba again. "What?" she shouted at him.

"I love you," he said simply.

"Oh, please," Lanna slammed the door shut in his face. _Whatever it was he was taking, _she thought, _he'd better be more careful with the dosage. _


	4. Chapter 4

**- 4 -**

Chapter 4

This was one of those moments hundreds of fangirls dreamt of every night: the man of their dreams kneeling in front of them with a huge bouquet of roses, proposing to them.

_But then_, Lanna thought, _there have always been fangirls and, well, fangirls._ _And, of course, the scene loses a lot of its allure when it's happened three days in a row, and you always were always kept being late for work because of it._

Lanna grabbed the flowers and glanced briefly at them. Then she hit Boba Fett repeatedly over the helmet with them, scattering petals in all directions. "No, no, no, no, No, NO," she shouted at him. "And again, for you in case you need to take notes: no, no, no, No, NO!" She tossed the remains of the bouquet into his visor and stormed off.

You might have said that Boba Fett knelt there, thunderstruck, but since he hadn't been moving much before the attack, the difference was hard to tell.

Lanna stalked into the shop, "approaching storm" written all over her face in such big letters that her boss didn't dare say a word. In grim silence Lanna went through the moves of opening the shop, applying such force to the fixtures that Mr. Rend feared for his furnishings. Then she stood behind the counter, displaying a glare that would scare away even the most determined customer.

Not only had turning down Fett not helped any, he additionally kept behaving like a lost puppy in her vicinity -- which was absolutely ridiculous. And even though Jereko _had_ called her on Sunday morning, he'd really just called to make sure that Fett hadn't killed her. Actually, he had renounced any further development of their relationship until the Boba-thing had been solved!

_Boba better dissolve himself_! Lanna thought angrily. She had run out of ideas how to tell him: GO AWAY!

There was one thing, though, that Lanna absolutely adored about Fett: He made Mr. Rend squirm. It was a beautiful spectacle, and she liked it immediately. After accosting Lanna with the first proposal on Monday, Fett had later appeared in Mr. Rend's shop and stood next to the door with his hands crossed over his chest for several hours.

His intimidating behaviour had not been good for business, and Mr. Rend obviously ached to get him out. But he was still Boba Fett and had quite a reputation. So her boss didn't dare to throw him out, no matter how much he might want to. He couldn't even measure up the courage to ask the bounty hunter why he was there.

Over the past three days, news of Boba Fett's presence in the shop had obviously gotten about. There were ever more nervous and/or giggling girls around, sometimes pretending to look at the window decorations, sometimes even lingering in the shop for lengths of time that bordered on loitering. Unfortunately, no security personnel came to free Lanna from this additional nuisance.

And the two fast food stalls close to Mr. Rend's certainly did not complain. They were full all day long. Occupied with females of all kinds hoping to get a glance, or more, at Fett. Speaking of whom…

Resignedly, Lanna watched the bounty hunter enter the shop and take up his position next to the door. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared into Lanna's direction, again managing to convey annoyed impatience. Lanna wondered if he'd start tapping his foot someday. _No,_ Lanna thought suddenly, _I do NOT want to know about someday, because he will be gone by then. I hope. _

She spend half the day trying to ignore Boba Fett, as well, as the groups of females meandering through the shop -- none of whom were actually buying anything. _If only I could tax the looks they throw at Fett,_ Lanna mused, _I'd be rich in a heartbeat_. She could not recall a time the shop had been so full, yet the actual receipts so low.

Mr. Rend broke into her idea of trying to sell Fett fan articles in the late afternoon. Lanna had already decided on fake armour, action figures, and, on a whim, Boba-flavoured soup -- she just had to change the packaging -- when her boss came out of his office.

"Do you know a Mr. Lorret?" he asked her.

"No." Lanna shook her head thoughtfully. "Never heard of him. Why?"

"Because he's on the comm for you," Mr. Rend explained. "Asked specifically for you. But if you don't want to talk to him…."

"No, no, that's fine," Lanna said. "I'll talk to him." She threw a last glance at Fett, who had taken up position opposite of the shop, as usual with his arms crossed over his chest. Lanna wondered if they had congealed in that position.

When Lanna entered the office, she could already see the face of a rather nondescript-looking man on the screen. He seemed about fourtyish, small with short dark hair and thick glasses. He kept fumbling with them nervously, while Lanna watched from the door. But as far as she could tell he was completely harmless.

With a sigh, Lanna stepped in front of the screen. "I am Mahalia Lanna. So who are you, and what do you want?"

Her brusque manner seemed to surprise the small man. He moved his shoulders nervously and chewed on his lip, before he seemed to remember that he needed them for speaking. "My name is Lorret, Carl Lorret, Law and Legalities. I represent the BFFA and would like to ask you some questions on their behalf."

Lanna pulled her brows slightly together. "The BFFA?" she asked. "Never heard of them. You must have been misinformed."

She began to reach out to break the connection when the lawyer pleaded, "Please, Ms. Lanna, you must hear me out. This is very important. Have you ever heard of Boba Fett?"

Lanna frowned. Of course she had heard of Boba Fett before. Who in the galaxy hadn't? But the usual descriptions did not include this ridiculously soft spot for Lannas. Though, of course, they said he got every prey he was after. And so far he had really proved annoyingly persistent. He had followed her around relentlessly for almost a week now and was really getting on her nerves. Whoever had drugged Mr. Fett out of his wits had better undo that soon -- or he'd have a very indignant Lanna to reckon with!

Thoughtfully, Lanna regarded Mr. Lorret. Could this lawyer have something to do with her mess? Or the BFFA, whoever they were? She decided to hear the man out. She was ready to grasp any straw.

"Yes, I have," she informed Mr. Lorret. "But then I think almost everybody has." She raised an inquiring brow.

Now Mr. Lorret squirmed openly. "I have heard -- I mean, I was told -- lately, I mean, have you seen him lately?"

_The understatement of the year!_ Lanna thought. "If I have, so what?" she asked, not bothering to answer Lorret.

"Did he behave in a, let's call it a 'strange' way?" Lorret wanted to know. He seemed to come to a conclusion. "'Strange' meaning, um, like, you know, courting you?"

Lanna was amazed to see the lawyer blush. "Actually, he did," she said. "Do you know something about it that I don't?" Her tone got rather sharp.

Lorret's shoulders sagged visibly. "I don't think we should discuss this on an open channel. The BFFA would be very annoyed if any of this got out." He scratched his head at a place that looked as if this happened rather often to it. "Could you come and see me?"

_He knew!_ Lanna thought. _He knew what was going on! And he'd better know how to undo this, too!_ In her mind she considered her work times, looking for the next opportunity to pay Mr. Law and Legalities a visit.

"Tomorrow afternoon would be fine," she said. "If you'd just give me your address and the time…."

Seldom Lanna had seen somebody looking so relieved. "Great, great." Lorret was almost rubbing his hands in anticipation. "My office is on the sixth storey of the bureau complex next to the town hall. The receptionist will show you in" He paused. "I'm really very sorry for all this," he finally continued. "I hope you will forgive us, when you know the truth."

Lanna stood staring at the screen for minutes after the connection broke. The possibility to reprogram Fett had presented itself. Whoever had messed up his brains would now undo it. She felt jubilant.

Until she returned to the shop. Fett was still standing in his position next to the door, Mr. Rend was squirming helplessly, and a group of giggling girls pressed their noses to the transparisteel windows suspiciously close to Fett's back. _One more day,_ Lanna told herself. _Just one more day._

4


	5. Chapter 5

**- 4 -**

Chapter 5

Lanna made it through the next morning at work only by sheer willpower. The sight of Fett standing outside in front of the opposite shop, almost _lounging_ against the wall, made her want to run off to meet Mr. Lorret right there and then. For the evening she imagined a candlelit, rose-scented bubble bath with champagne and mind-bogglingly expensive chocolates to celebrate her freedom.

Unfortunately, time was not on her side. The hours dragged along more slowly than sedated nerfs, and the crowds of giggling girls and females of every kind did nothing to hasten time, either.

Mr. Rend seemed to sense Lanna's distracted mental state and stayed in the shop all morning doing all of the sales talks. He trusted her just enough to take the money, but even then he tried to get a glance at the change to make sure she didn't make any mistakes.

When the clock finally conceded to strike 2 pm, Lanna shot out of the shop like an arrow, reaching her speeder bike in record time. She arrived at Mr. Lorret's office a ten-minute race at breakneck speed later. She was one and a half hours early.

After some hectic and impatient pacing -- which didn't convince that hour and a halt to pass any more quickly -- Lanna decided to kill time by having some lunch. She chose a tiny out-of-the-way restaurant hidden in the basement of a building down a side street. Once inside, she sat down at a table that could not be seen from outside or the door. Then she ordered a three-course meal, and timed each course in her head to fill an acceptable amount of time, so she would be finished just in time to meet Mr. Lorret.

-----------------------------------

The spoonful of frosted chocolate mousse with redberries and cream stopped halfway to Lanna's mouth. The steps she heard approaching steadily were those she had learned to dread over the last few days. Just as her mouth snapped shut, Boba Fett came around the corner separating her table form the rest of the room.

Slowly, she let the spoon fall back onto her plate, staring, while Fett leisurely sat down in front of her. He stretched out his legs beneath the table crossed his ankles and looked at Lanna.

"OK, so how did you find me?" she wanted to know.

"Easy," came the reply. "I just went to the most hidden and out-of-the-way spot you could think of." The bounty hunter cocked his head slightly as if rating Lanna by her choice.

Trying to ignore him, Lanna returned her attention to her dessert. She overcame the childish notion to splat some of it over Fett's visor, but happily visualized the scene, though. It turned out that eating frosted chocolate mousse, no matter with how many redberries or drowned how deep under cream, was not easy under the watchful stare of Boba Fett.

It took Lanna a short eternity to finish, and she promised herself to never, ever have any combination of chocolate, redberries, cream, and Boba Fett again. She paid and left -- Boba Fett tagging along behind her. She hoped Mr. Lorret would not mind.

----------------------------------------

Mr. Lorret's office was small and astonishingly stuffy for a room in the city's most renowned office building. The windows were all but covered with shelves, which were themselves all but covered with old-fashioned flimsybooks. The bright light was swallowed by the dark furniture, and the dark brown carpet didn't help the gloomy impression any.

In the middle of the dim, messy room stood Mr. Lorret. He extended his hand towards Lanna as soon as she stepped through the door, but halted midway when he saw Fett coming in behind her.

"Um, so you have come," he said, stating the obvious. "And I can see you have brought, um, Mr. Fett with you." He glanced at the bounty hunter, who took his usual position next to the door. "How very thoughtful, very thoughtful, indeed," he mumbled.

Lanna felt that he was not as happy with the circumstances as he tried to make her believe. "Here I am, and here I'll stay, until I get some answers," Lanna stated flatly. When it occurred to her that getting answers with Boba covering your back might be much easier than getting answers all on her own, a tiny smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

Either the smile had some nasty undertones Lanna didn't get, or Fett was already preying on the small lawyer's thoughts. Either way, Mr. Lorret seemed to get very nervous. Shifting his weight repeatedly, he finally sat down and began to talk.

"As I told you on the comm," he began, "I work for the BFFA. They scheduled a meeting with Mr. Fett about a week ago, and I was responsible for, um, the legal aspects." He paused to shuffle some papers around his desk, feeling visibly uneasy.

"So who is this BFFA?" Lanna wanted to know, wondering what kind of legal aspects a big autograph session could have.

Blushing, the lawyer whispered almost inaudibly, "The Boba Fett Fangirl Association."

"The Boba Fett what?" Lanna asked incredulously.

Mr. Lorret shuffled his feet uneasily under his desk. "The Boba Fett Fangirl Association," he repeated. "They decided it was time Mr. Fett took a lover for life and ordered a spell. It was supposed to go off at their meeting, so he would choose one of them." Looking embarrassed, Lorret wrung his hands. "But unfortunately the driver who brought Mr. Fett got into an accident and --"

"And dropped him right in front of my feet," Lanna finished the sentence for him.

"We are very sorry about that," apologized Lorret again. "I'm afraid the driver wanted to impress Fett with a very dangerous maneuver and lost control over his speeder. He finally crashed into the Museum of Modern Morakti Art, and it took us some time to peel him from Serton 'The Blade' Kriffon's latest exhibits." After a small break he went on, not daring to look up at Lanna.

"So instead of being around the BFFA at the time the spell went off, Fett obviously --" he swallowed hard -- "Fett was obviously with you."

Lanna couldn't think of anything to say. This was above stupid. Love potions and speeder crashes! Was she trapped in a cheap holovid? If it had not been for Fett following her around valiantly the last week, she would have laughed at the nervous lawyer until her sides hurt. Now -- now, she only chewed on her lip thoughtfully.

"So how long will he be following me around?" she asked finally.

"Forever," breathed Mr. Lorret.

"Forever?" Lanna shouted, unbelieving. "What do you mean 'forever'?"

"It's a simple spell," Lorret explained. "Simple but effective -- all of the best spells are. It cannot be broken or unmade. Once Mr. Fett has made his choice, um…. had his choice made for him, um – well, it's supposed to hold true for his lifetime. None of the BFFA wanted the chance of divorce included."

"Fangirls!" Lanna threw her hands into the air in exasperation. "Why did they have to choose Boba Fett, of all people. Grand Admiral Thrawn, now THAT would have been an idea…."

Behind her she heard Fett move, and when she turned, she realized that he was getting ready to go.

"What is he doing now?" she asked.

"I don't think he likes the idea of you preferring a different man," Lorret said uneasily.

"You're not saying that he'll go off after Grand Admiral Thrawn now, are you?" demanded Lanna.

"I'm afraid that's exactly it," the short man replied, squirming.

Lanna lunged after the departing bounty hunter, trying to grab the scruff of his neck. But her hand simply bounced off the unyielding Mandalorian armour.

"Oh, no! You will not," she muttered to herself as she hurried after him.

4


	6. Chapter 6

**- 4 -**

This chapter contains no Boba. If you'd rather take a short-cut, read this short summary:

Well, in this chapter Lanna manages to get from Morak toThrawn. Well, almost.

I put in a reference to Pratchett, maybe you find it? Oh, and one to Hitchhiker's Guide, as well. If you like references I can try to put more of them and we'll play Hunt the Reference Down. What do you think? I'm rambling? Huff, nobody forced you to read all this, the excerpt was finished after the first sentence, I just like to talk. ;p

** Chapter 6 **

Lanna wondered if her great idea had really been that great, or, on the contrary, rather stupid. But when the alternative was travelling directly with Fett in his ship, which probably didn't have much space, not to mention sleeping bunks…well, if the alternative was being crammed into the bounty hunter's ship with the man himself, she'd much rather endure this.

"So you ask me to get into contact with a certain --" the officer paused to look at his notes -- "Grand Admiral Thrawn, whose existence I know nothing of, because Boba Fett wants to kill him for … what were the reasons again?" He looked at her questioningly.

Lanna's mind raced. Somehow the explanation didn't sound half as credible said out loud as it had in her head. And if she read the officer correctly, she'd be in a straightjacket faster than she could say "fishing boat" if she stuck to her story.

Lowering her eyes, she whispered, "Nothing. It was a bet. I lost a bet. I'm sorry." She hung her head, beaten. Now she could only wait for Fett to finish off Thrawn and return to following her around again. Or --

Or she could rush off to do something utterly stupid -- like save the Grand Admiral and then have Fett return to following her around. Not that the outcome for herself would be any less bleak, but at least Thrawn would be alive. And she would not have another fandom screaming for her blood. _The ladies would certainly kill me_, Lanna thought desperately, _and Jello would argue me to pieces for sure. I must stop Boba!_

Occupied with her own thoughts; Lanna missed most of the lecture the Imperial officer was giving her. She returned her attention just in time to promise never, ever to do anything like this again and behave like a good Imperial citizen from now on.

Lanna left the office a paragon of meekness, her mind already light-years away. _Where would the quarters be?_ she wondered. _Or, better still, the laundry._

She gleaned a stack of flimsiplasts from the first unoccupied office. Those things got you everywhere, when "doing a project for school" wouldn't. Anyway, she was too old for the latter by now. Putting on her best official face she added a slight note of annoyance to her features and stepped into the way of the first stormtrooper that came along. "Where is the laundry?" she demanded.

"Complex D," came the prompt answer, and Mr. White Armour seemed to feel his duty was done with this reply.

Rolling her eyes upwards in exasperation, Lanna sighed, "I _know_ it is in complex D. So how do I get there? -- from here," she added as an afterthought. Stormtroopers could be very literal sometimes.

"Down this corridor, first crossing to the left, second door on the right. The building at the right end of the yard," came the answer with military precision.

"Thank you," Lanna said and stepped out of his way. To her immense relief, the stormtrooper simply went on with his business as if he had never met her. Bracing herself she headed to the laundry.

Getting into the laundry was even easier than convincing the stormtrooper. Lanna just held up her stack of flimsies and was waved along towards the offices. She took the liberty of depositing all but one of the flimsiplasts on an unoccupied desk and left it to the clerk to figure out their meaning.

The drying and folding sections turned out to be on the second floor. Nobody gave her a second glance as she made her way up, looking around searchingly with the single flimsy in her hand. The sheet created an "other-people's-problem" field around her automatically. Lanna only hope there i_were_/i uniforms her size at all in the Empire.

Finally she reached a storeroom full of neatly folded uniforms for all ranks and sizes. Briskly she strode along the shelves, reading labels in passing, until she stopped before the one saying 'Captain'. She studied her flimsy carefully – actually a rather interesting report on a spreading crop-disease - then took a complete outfit marked as size 'small'. After a moment's consideration, she decided to take one marked extra-small -- the only one -- as well."

Turning around crisply, she stormed off, glaring at everybody who dared to meet her eyes.

In a small, dark closet Lanna leaned with her back against the wall, breathing heavily, her heart racing. With both hands she pressed the precious uniforms to her chest. Closing her eyes, she tried to calm herself. If the worker had really been suspicious, he'd had sounded the alarm by now. But outside everything was silent, except for the occasional boots thudding past.

After a while Lanna groped for the light switch, hoping nobody would notice the strip of light shining though under the door. She donned pieces of the two different uniforms that fir the best, praying nobody would look at her feet and decide boots of the latest "Leather Bound" collection were no proper footwear for a captain.

Adopting the blazing ego of an Imperial captain -- which she didn't feel much like at the moment, Lanna strode out of the closet a little later, heading purposefully into the direction of the hangars...hopefully into the direction of the hangars. At least she hoped the huge sheds at the far end of the yard she had passed earlier actually were hangars.

They were. Lanna marched up to the nearest shuttle, looking impatient. On cue a worker appeared, looking worried.

"How can I help you, sir –um, ma'am?" he asked.

"Is this the shuttle I am to take?" Lanna demanded. "It does not look prepared at all."

Consternation spread over the worker's face. "Take where?" he asked.

Rolling her eyes, Lanna pretended to be mumbling something under her breath. Then, looking pointedly at the worker, she said with deliberate slowness, "The shuttle that is to take me to Grand Admiral Thrawn's current station. Don't tell me that you were not informed. And don't try any excuses either. Get this shuttle going. And fast!" Lanna almost shouted the last words.

"Yes, ma'am," the worker acknowledged, hurrying off. Lanna stared after him, then watched him turn violently and almost run back to her.

"Would you like to sit down?" he asked, his tone very embarrassed.

"I would, indeed!" Lanna snapped at him. "And DO hurry -- I was assured the shuttle would be ready for takeoff when I arrived." She followed the poor man up the ramp and sat down in one of the comfortable seats reserved for the upper echelons of the Imperial navy.

After a few tense minutes two uniformed men came into the shuttle. Lanna wanted to bolt but decided to only nod her acknowledgment -- with a hint of disapproval. The Imperials saluted crisply before they went into the cockpit. _No wonder I want Jereko in the navy,_ Lanna mused. _The way everything about those guys seemed to stand to attention all the time does give one ideas._

The engines began to hum softly, but Lanna never even noticed the takeoff. Only the changing sound of the engines told her they had entered hyperspace. She stood up and tried to find the locker with hard alcohol. She needed a brandy more than anything now.

4


	7. Chapter 7

** Chapter 7 **

The arrival at the Stalwart was surprisingly uneventful. The pilots got their clearance, and they were pulled in with a tractor beam. The speakers announced that the Grand Admiral was about to see her, and when she left the shuttle there was even an honour guard waiting. Lanna was astonished at how easy it had all been and began to wonder if she really wanted Jereko to join the Navy if it would turn him into such a mindless sucker, too.

After she had been led through a maze of corridors and turbolifts, her escort finally stopped in front of a door that looked no different from any other door she had seen so far. Lanna tried to straighten herself even more, though her shoulders and back already hurt quite a bit. So here it comes. _Just try not to completely turn into a stupid, slavering fangirl yourself,_ she told herself.

The room she was led into was rather small, containing little more than a table, a few chairs, and a transparisteel window with a great view. _If there was any greater view than the Grand Admiral, even if he is standing with his back to you,_ Lanna thought, completely ignoring the officer standing next to him. _I 'm afraid glomping Grand Admirals is not_ comme if faut, _even if you're dressed up like an Imperial captain -- especially if you dressed up like an Imperial captain._

Thrawn turned around, measuring Lanna with a short glance. "Ah, so you are our impostor." He indicated one of the chairs. "Have a seat."

Lanna felt her cheeks flush to the same glowing red as the Grand Admiral's eyes. Still, she managed to get to the indicated chair without accident, and even without making a mad dash for the Chiss. Sitting down carefully, she folded her hands in front of her -- where she could see them, and control what they were doing.

Then she looked up to the approaching Grand Admiral. Even from this unfortunate angle she could not see the smallest sign of a spare tire starting to grow around his waist. Her mind gave a fangirlish squeal. _I wonder if that's still true when you undress him, or if the uniform is just utterly discreet like -- lower down._

Fortunately, Thrawn seemed to be unaware of the thoughts racing through Lanna's mind. In a graceful movement he sat down opposite her, steepling his fingers, and watching her closely.

"Why don't you repeat the reason you stated on Morak for you coming here," he suggested. "What I heard so far sounded interesting, though not very sensible." One of his brows arched slightly.

Lanna felt her blush not only crawling up her forehead but also down her neck, leaving her looking like a lobster with a sunburn. Her inner fangirl still happily adored the slightly arched brow, was generally out of order due to hormones, and wondered in which colour a Chiss would blush.

"Um," Lanna began to stutter, "I, um, actually, not me, but -- Boba Fett, because of me…." Under the persistent stare of the glowing red eyes, she faltered. She looked at her folded hands, trying to pull herself together and prevent her fangirliness from lunging for Thrawn and making herself comfortable on the Grand Admiral.

She drew a deep breath and raised her eyes. "Boba Fett is out to kill you because," Lanna swallowed hard, "because he drank a love potion that went all wrong." It didn't sound any better now than it had in the Imperial garrison on Morak. But she had been raised to tell the truth, so she gave it a try.

Thrawn's expression didn't change. He kept staring at her as if he might be able to see the truth right through her skull.

Groping for words Lanna tried to explain. "The GFFA started it all. They ordered the potion for Fett, but the driver, who was supposed to bring him there, got into an accident because he tried to show off, so he died, because he fell on exhibits of Blade Kriffon, but Fett fell on my speeder bike, scratching my paint, he repaired it, by the way, it never ran so smooth before…." Lanna stopped, realizing she was babbling. "Anyway, he's been following me around ever since, and I made a stupid comment, and he set off to kill you."

Still, not a single muscle twitched in the Grand Admiral's face. It was almost like having Fett before you again, only that Thrawn actually wore his face for a mask.

"So you are sticking with the story you told on Morak?" he asked finally.

"It's the only story I have," Lanna replied.

This time the eyebrow rose the whole way up, questioningly. Lanna felt the receding blush return with new force. _Would it help any if I got down on my knees and proposed unending love? _her inner fangirl wondered, who had obviously forgotten about Fett's rose debacle while in the same situation.

"So what do you think we should do with you now?" the Grand Admiral mused.

_If I had it MY way,_ Lanna's second self thought immediately, _this would be the part where I had my hands all over you. If you don't know what to do in such a situation, I'd readily teach you... _But she managed to suppress that answer, hoping its content was not written in capitals on her forehead. Though she assumed that Thrawn would not have a problem even if it was in fine print.

"The brig?" Lanna volunteered tentatively. _Or your quarters, whatever suits you best,_ her inner fangirl added shamelessly.

With a side glance at the officer, he gave a small nod. "I think that is the best solution, until -- or if -- Fett appears."

Lanna hung her head, nodding. Then she stood up dejectedly, not even looking at Thrawn, to the utter dismay of her fangirly self. The stormtroopers assumed position around her again, and this time she did not mistake their presence for an honour guard.

The door hissed open and the leader of the stormtroopers almost bounced into an olive-clad lieutenant. In his determination to enter, the lieutenant managed to push them back into the room. Then he snapped to attention before the Admiral.

"Sir, Boba Fett has just asked permission to come aboard," he announced.

Lanna could feel everyone's eyes bore into her. At least it will be over soon, she thought, while her other half wondered in which kind of box the Grand Admiral could be transported off best, if he refused to come voluntarily. 

"Interesting," the aforementioned commented. "Did he state his business?"

"Yes, sir," came the answer, and the rational part of Lanna could easily imagine Jereko in the crisp uniform. _And without it,_ her fangirl chimed in, surprisingly not meaning Thrawn this time. "The bounty hunter stated that he wanted to talk to you about a certain Mahalia Lanna, sir. Her whereabouts and probable arrival at the _Stalwart_." 

"What a coincidence, Miss Lanna, don't you think?" Thrawn asked, his eyes fixed on Lanna. Looking at the lieutenant again, he ordered, "Give him permission to dock and bring him here immediately."

The man saluted with military precision, turned crisply, and left. Lanna was maneuvered into a corner by the four stormtroopers around her. Torn between cringing with anticipation and undressing the Grand Admiral in her mind, she hoped Fett would hurry up. _The first time I want him to hurry, she wondered. And while Thrawn is right in front of me, too. I must be crazy._

To her relief, Boba Fett did hurry. Only a short while after the lieutenant had left, he returned with the bounty hunter in tow and several additional stormtroopers. _At least they are careful,_ Lanna thought, not really convinced that a garrison of stormies would be any help against Fett.

The bounty hunter came to a halt in front of Thrawn who did not seem worried at all. "Sir." With a curt nod, Fett acknowledged the presence of everyone else. "I see the subject of my business is already present. That will make things a lot easier." He turned to face Lanna.  
_  
He could at least have tried some snappy lines,_ Lanna thought. _"I'm here to rescue you" or something, but no, not Fett. He'd probably not say a single word until he left again._

"We have been told you were after the Grand Admiral," the officer still standing behind Thrawn said.

Fett cocked his head slightly. "Of course I'm not. I'm after her!" He pointed at Lanna, who tried hard to melt into the background.

With no success. All three men and all the stormtroopers, even those with their guns trained on Fett, looked at her -- only the features of the officer betrayed a little of his thoughts. And what Lanna saw in his face was not friendly.

"Well, the young lady has told us a very different story," Thrawn said. "If we are to believe her, you are here to kill me." He turned his head to look at the bounty hunter.

"It is against my code to kill people without being paid for it," Fett answered. "And, as far as I know, there is currently no bounty on your head." He returned his attention to Lanna. "If you'd just come along. We're leaving."

Actually, Lanna did not want to move at all, but on a nod from the Grand Admiral the stormtroopers pushed her in Fett's direction. She stumbled, acutely aware of her clumsiness in front of Thrawn, and bounced against Boba's body armour. The bounty hunter grabbed her roughly by the arm, pulling her upright again. 

"Is there anything more you want to tell us before you leave?" Thrawn asked, his tone suggesting that there had better be. As did the stormtroopers moving in behind Fett to cut his way to the door.

The bounty hunter shifted his weight towards Lanna. "Actually, there is," he replied. With a swift movement he activated a repulsion shield that engulfed him and Lanna while he threw a small knockout-grenade into the room. The shockwave was reflected by Fett's personal shield, but knocked out all the troopers, who fell to the ground in a tumbled heap of arms and legs, as well as the officer, who toppled more graciously, and Grand Admiral Thrawn, who simply slumped in his chair. "This isn't the sort of thing I normally do."

The last thing Lanna saw, before Fett knocked her out and swung her over his shoulder, was one blaster bolt -- and a red spot on the impeccable Grand Admiral's uniform that slowly grew larger and larger.   
--------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Lanna awoke in a completely alien room. It was tiny, made of metal and housing nothing much but the bunk she lay on. And Boba Fett, she had to add after looking around. He leaned casually in the doorway and had exchanged his armour for a simple grey jumpsuit. 

"Come back to your senses?" he inquired.

At that Lanna wanted to lunge at him, screaming into his face. "Me? ME, come back to my senses? It's YOU who's out of his mind here, not me!" But with the first quick movement of her head the room began to swim and a small guy crept out of the wall behind her, hitting her with a big hammer. At least, that's what it felt like. 

"You," she whispered hoarsely, "you'd better come to your senses."

Fett didn't move. Only a small, predatory smile tugged at his lip. "I'm about to."

Tiredly, Lanna closed her eyes, thinking, _I can only hope I got the ChristineX version of the guy._


	8. Epilogue

** Epilogue **

20 years later…

Getting a job with a bounty hunter was not easy, but this time Lanna was sure she would make it. She had set up her false identity with the help of several middlemen. Nothing connected her to the newly created accounts and papers she was using. She had taken every precaution.

Additionally, she had kept the time and place of the coming meeting a secret from everybody else right from the start and had, additionally, zigzagged aimlessly through Coronet City for half an hour. Nobody could know where she was.

Bracing her shoulders, Lanna got out of her landspeeder and entered "The Olde Gift Shoppe" on Treasure Ship Row. Though the man behind the counter was very busy, he pointed Lanna to a door at the back of the shop. Without hesitation she strode through the open door into the office, putting on her professional smile. This time she iwould/i make it.

Caron Sosara, the owner of the shop, already awaited her and rose politely from his desk when she entered. Lanna extended her hand in greeting and introduced herself. "I am Mahalia Lanna."

Sosara took the offered hand and shook it, his eyes wandering off to a place behind her right shoulder. "And who is that?" he asked.

Lanna sat down and gave a resigned shrug. "That," she sighed, "is Boba Fett."


	9. Interlude 1

** Interlude 1   
**

Lanna took her cup of stim-caf and sat down opposite Boba Fett at the breakfast table. The bounty hunter held a pad displaying the morning news and managed to lounge even on the simple kitchen chair. His dark hair was still tousled, and Lanna believed that nothing in the galaxy would ever break him of his habit of wearing grey jumpsuits whenever he was out of his armour.

She took a sip from her mug, watching him for a while. "Jabba has raised the money on Solo's head again," she finally said. "I think it's up to fifty thousand credits now." When Fett did not respond, she added, "Shouldn't you a least _try_ to find Solo?"

Fett shook his head slightly. "Don't like to leave you alone," he commented without looking up.

"But you're a bounty hunter," Lanna objected. "And anyway, you could contribute to the finances of this household at least every once in a while!"

Again Fett just shook his head minimally.

"Shouldn't you at least _pretend_ to be looking for him?" Lanna asked, exasperated. "I mean, just go to the first stupid place you can think of, and --"

"Bespin."

"What?"

"The first stupid place I can think of. Bespin." The bounty hunter finally looked up.

"All right." Lanna conceded that she was beaten. "Bespin it is. Just go there and see if you can find him."

Fett stood up. "Where did we put my Mandalorian armour?"

"In a box in the cellar," Lanna answered. "I think the one that has 'memorabilia' written on it."

With a nod Boba Fett strode out the door. He returned a little while later, already dressed in the amour, the helmet under his arm.

"Should I bring anything?" Fett asked.

Thoughtfully, Lanna tapped her lip with her index finger. "From Bespin, no, nothing I can think of. But since you're already going, can't you stop at Tatooine and get some fresh bantha? The stuff from the mall is a far cry from the real thing."

Again Fett nodded. Then he put on his helmet, turned, and went to the door. "I'll be back in about a week, then."

Finally, the door closed behind the bounty hunter, and Lanna sank back on her chair. It was such a boon to be alone for a while. People who wished for somebody to always be with them did not know what they were in for.

Suddenly the door opened again, and Boba Fett stood in it.

"I almost forgot," his filtered voice came. "I love you."

Even though Lanna very much wanted to explode in his face right then, she didn't. Flying off the handle in front of Boba Fett only led to valiant attempts from him to calm her down.

"I. Know," she ground out, balling her hands into very tights fists at her sides to keep from shoving the man out the door.

With a microscopic shrug, Fett turned around and left again.

Slowly Lanna unclenched her fists, breathing steadily, and tryiedto recover her peace of mind. _He's just being Boba Fett again_, she told herself. _No problem there._

At least not for him.


	10. Interlude 2

** Interlude 2 **

"Can you explain again what this is all about?" Fett asked, looking puzzled.

"It is a masked ball, and you will go dressed up as Boba Fett," Lanna explained again, buffing up the battered helmet as well as she was able.

"But I _AM_ Boba Fett," the bounty hunter protested.

"You know that, and I know it as well. But who else would believe a word of it?" Lanna asked. "So just be a good bounty hunter and pretend to be somebody pretending to be Boba Fett. It's only for this evening."

"For you, I will," he replied, leaning towards her and planting a kiss on her cheek.

With a hollow noise, Lanna whacked the helmet over Boba's head. "Don't do that! It's out of character."

"Then why don't we dress up as Han Solo and Leia Organa?" Fett asked.

"I _wanted_ to go as Han Solo -- frozen in carbonite," Lanna replied. "That would have excused me from most of the nonsense and small talk going on, _but_," she took a deep breath, "the thought that you'd then go dressed up as Leia dressed up as Boussh made me reconsider. I'm not going to play a public round of Sleeping Beauty with you! So how do I look?" 

"I still think you should wear that Huttish slave girl outfit," Boba said, with a critical look.

"I'm not going to show my spare tires in public, thank you!" Lanna snapped. "It's those cooking courses you attend -- they're bad for my figure."

"It is not my fault that you eat too much," Fett countered.

"Oh, it isn't, now? And what about the 24 variations of frosted chocolate mousse with redberries and cream you came up with? That's just screaming innocence, right?"

"I still see no need to hide you in such a costume. It's ridiculous. Nobody would ever think of wearing a hairstyle that would force you to walk through doors sideways."

"That's why it's a royal hairstyle. They can afford bigger doors."

"But the dress looks more like a red and gold tent than anything else. You could smuggle in a bantha under those skirts. Not to mention that white makeup with red dots scattered about your face. It looks as if you had measles!" 

"It does not! And even if I did, they'd at least be royal measles. And they are placed strategically -- see here, one on each cheek and this one on my upper lip."

Instead of looking, Boba tried to remove the last spot she mentioned with his mouth, clasping Lanna around the waist.

Again Lanna whacked him with his helmet -- more persistently this time.

After he let go of her again, Boba asked, "So what will I call you tonight?"

"Like the queen would talk to the bounty hunter?" Lanna countered, raising a brow. "You assume too much." After a short break, she added, "All right, you can call me 'my queen,' or 'hey, you -- yes, the woman who is trying to smuggle the expensive liquors out under her skirt.' Would that be OK for you?"

Fett nodded, and put on his helmet. "And what if the host then stops you and reclaims the bottles?" 

Lanna shrugged. "Mission objectives not accomplished."


	11. Interlude 3

** Interlude 3 **

"_Ho Dzang, _Boba! How do you stand it?" Lanna cursed, pulling at the tight collar that reached up to her chin. Her head was all that stuck out of Fett's Mandalorian armour.

"You get used to it," the bounty hunter replied, his words muffled by the handkerchief in front of his face. His eyes looked red and about to water, and the many stacks of hankies stacked around him said "Morak Summer Flu" in big red letters, as did the blanket draped over his legs as he lay on the sofa.

Resignedly, Lanna returned to pulling at the armour, which had definitely been designed for a male. Her breasts were flattened painfully, but there was a lot of space lower down, where she had no use for it at all. A lot of space.

Additionally, the armour was thick with the overpowering scent of Boba Fett. And it itched -- especially in places you had no hope of reaching, once you wore it, like the soles of one's feet.

"Why can't you just cancel the thing?" Lanna wanted to know. "It's not as if your pension is depending on this, is it?"

Fett did not answer.

"Oh great," Lanna sighed. "Placing your retirement funds in the hands of fangirls throws a completely new light on how much you thought you'd need them." Shaking her head, Lanna pulled hard on one of the arm pieces. _Well, at least I won't have to see another great man reduced to sorry whining by the flu_, she thought.

"I'll take care of your ship and reread the notes for the question hour, so don't you worry." Lanna assured Fett. "Nobody will notice the difference." 

"Just be cool," the bounty hunter told her. 

"That," Lanna levelled a finger at him, "would be an all-time first for me -- but I'll do what I can." She put on the helmet and went to the door. "If you need anything, Mrs. Steiner will be around, just ask her -- right?"

Fett nodded, and Lanna turned to leave. 

-------------------------------------------------------------- 

As she had promised, Lanna rehearsed the answers to the most likely questions again on her way. What was her favourite colour? Green, obviously. What was her favourite weapon? Flamethrower. A lot of questions had a "No Comment" behind them. Most of them were rather private, and Lanna wondered why anybody might want to know the number of girls the bounty hunter had bedded.

_Fangirls! _she only thought, and continued the list. _Favourite Ship: Mine. Favourite customer: Those with lots of money, favourite bands: Mandos o'War, Durasteela and - Selina Donin? _By the Force, that man was more disturbed that she had realized. Not that she believed to end up any different. Not if she had the Mandos o'War blaring at full volume about uniting in her flat at five in the morning one more time.

_For the sake of his own reputation, I'd better substitute that with/i Susanna's Foursomei if anybody asks, she decided. _

Apart from the unsettling insights into Boba Fett's personality, the ride to Vulpter went off without incident. Lanna was collected from the space port, fortunately by a driver who did not accidentally drop her while trying to impress the well-known bounty hunter. Compared with the Fett's driving style, he actually drove rather sedately. Lanna leaned back and tried to enjoy the view. Unfortunately, it consisted mostly of a sprawling citiescape.

The welcome was enthusiastic. To Lanna it seemed as if thousands of fangirls had come together in the convention centre only to make fools out of themselves. She had to lower the output of the audio-enhancers drastically to avoid becoming deaf instantly.

_Just act cool, _Lanna kept telling herself. _You are the most über-cool bounty hunter around -- not to mention that your pension funds depend on those crazy females. _

Lanna felt decidedly uncomfortable on the low stage that had been set up. Spotlights were pointing at her and almost roasted her inside the armour under their glaring light, until Lanna found the controls for the temperature. The questions that followed made her want to put the climate control in 'brain-frosting mode.'

Question: (with lots of eye batting) Would you take off your mask to let us see your face, please?

Lanna: No, my face is not your business. 

Question: What is the best way to be a successful bounty hunter?

Lanna: Get your prey and don't get killed. 

Question: What kind of undies do you wear?

_What to answer to that one? Boxers with pink bunnies? G-strings with leopard print? The truth? _  
Lanna: Next question.

Question: When you caught Solo at Bespin, it was said you just flew up to the place and collected him. How did you know he was there?

Lanna: I have my sources.

Question: Will you tell us about them? 

Lanna: No.

Question: Would you go out for dinner with me?

Lanna: Next question.  
_This is getting rather boring. _

Question: What kind of woman do you like?

Lanna paused for a moment, looking at the tall and rather beautiful blonde who had asked. An evil smile crept over her face, which, fortunately, could not be seen from outside.

Lanna: Short, dark-haired, and not skinny.

The woman looked rather troubled while Lanna laughed up her sleeve.

After a seemingly endless string of questions, Lanna was finally led from the stage. But instead of a nice break in a room all on her own, she was brought to a well-lit corner where a professional holopic maker had already set up shop. The banner making up the background proudly announced "Boba Fett Fangirl Association - Annual Meeting," and already a queue of its members had formed.

Rolling her eyes, Lanna prepared for hours of picture-taking with giggling women. _The joy and happiness of my life, _she thought bitterly.

Finally the meeting was over, and Lanna was escorted back to the_ Slave I _by a mob of fangirls. She wanted little else than to get out of this horrible armour, feel the air again on her face again, and flop into a comfortable arm chair. _Preferably, with Fett massaging my feet, _she thought. _Those boots are pure horror. _

At the top of the ramp, she turned around to let her gaze sweep over the assembled fangirls a last time. They waved -- some of them frantically -- and shouted things Lanna could not hear. Some time during the picture-taking she had considered it better for her sanity if she shut the audio equipment down. She raised her hand in an almost-greeting way and hit the key for the hatch.

_I just hope his funds are worth all this,_ Lanna thought tiredly, while she went to the cockpit in her sock feet.


	12. Interlude 4

** Interlude04 **

When Lanna came into the cockpit, the comm. was blinking madly. Sitting down, she wondered what was so important to Fett that he couldn't even wait for her return. Shaking her head, she activated the message.

It was not Boba. The caller turned out to be a pale Twi'Lek male, who steepled his fingers in front of his chest. "Ah, Master Fett," the alien greeted her. "I am sorry that I cannot reach you personally, but I am to inform you about a new bounty set out by Jabba the Hutt. The person in question is one Amee Dalaa, dancer and actress." He paused for a moment, as if considering how to phrase his next comment. "She has so far eluded all attempts at capture by enchanting the hunters. All hunters. The bounty is set at 75,000 credits. Good hunt."

Lanna stared at the comm in shocked silence. Seventy-five grand -- that was a lot of money. And if she could read the message board right, the Twi'lek had also sent a file with information about that woman. Thoughtfully tapping her lower lip with her index finger, she began to read.

As it turned out. Miss Amee Dalaa was currently employed by a cantina on Corellia which was only half a day's flight away. Since she had so far been able to twist every bounty hunter around her little finger, she seemed to feel perfectly safe. A grin tugged at Lanna's lips. _Let her try her ruses on me to her heart's content_, she thought.

-------------------------------------------------

The cantina fell dead quiet when Lanna threw the door open with a tremendous bang and slowly went straight towards the stage. She tried to hold herself taller than she actually was, trying to convey the self-assurance and ego a Boba Fett should have. Without looking to either side, she made her way directly to Amee Dalaa, who stood on the stage in a more-than-breathtaking dress.

"Miss Dalaa." Lanna greeted her with a curt nod.

The actress did a lascivious job of leaning down, stopping just short before a major outpouring of her décolleté came to pass. "And what is it you want?" she breathed at the approximate location of Lanna's right ear.

"There is a bounty on your head that I intent to collect, " Lanna stated. "If you'd just follow me to my ship…"

"And what if I don't?" Dalaa asked softly.

Lanna shrugged microscopically. "I hoped it would not come to this, but in that case, I'll have to do it the hard way. If you'd pardon me." Lanna took Amee Dalaa's hand as if to kiss it, but instead sent a stun bolt through her body. Not only Fett's armour, but also his work bench was full of interesting surprises, as Lanna had found out while she planned her first bounty hunt.

It seemed as if the actress had just fainted as Dalaa toppled gracefully into Lanna's waiting arms -- managing the astounding feat of not dropping anything out of her décolleté in the process. Immediately Lanna wished the armour had some kind of strengthening skeleton to it; the limp body was heavier than she had expected.

Lanna made her way back to the entrance slowly, not only because she was afraid of staggering and stumbling if she sped up, but also because she wanted to keep an eye on the patrons. Whispered conversations had started all through the room, sounding like the buzz of a huge bee hive through the audio enhancers. Lanna fully expected to get stopped any moment, but the magical aura of Fett seemed to work with her under the armour as well.

_Is there no law forbidding things like this_? Lanna wondered. _And how the Sith am I going to get her all the way to the _SlaveI? Already it was becoming clear that carrying Dalaa all the way was of the question. Lanna knew she would break down before she was ten steps from the door of the cantina.

The murmur was beginning to get hostile, and Lanna was grateful when she finally reached the door, which slid open with the usual hissing noise. There was no squad of CorSec waiting outside, not even the local police or another bounty hunter. Relieved, Lanna stumbled into the next dark corner and dropped Amee Dalaa to the ground.

Now she only needed a way to get the actress to the _Slave I_. That would be easiest if she could make Dalaa walk by herself, but how to make the woman run directly into her doom? _Bounty hunting is more complicated than I thought,_ she reflected. Looking at the unconscious actress, Lanna suddenly had an idea. She pulled Dalaa further into the shadows and waited for her to wake up.

When Dalaa began to stir, Lanna placed a pair of handcuffs in her sight and took off the helmet. Then she took Dalaa's shoulder and shook the woman gently.

"Wake up," Lanna whispered urgently. "Come on -- there's no time."

The actress blinked her eyes several times, trying to focus on Lanna's face. Disbelief spread over her features, and Lanna put a hand over Dalaa's mouth, in case she should scream.

"Shh! Or do you want the real Boba Fett to find you?"

Dalaa shook her head, and Lanna released her.

"Thought so -- me neither. So here is my plan," Lanna explained. "If everybody thinks that you have already been captured by Fett, they will stop looking for you. All you have to do is move and lay low for a while. Oh, by the way, I'm Synthia Cren, your biggest fan." Lanna tried to paste the broadest of all happy grins on her face as she uttered the last words.

Amee Dalaa did not seem to be very convinced. Lanna could understand that -- her logic was fundamentally flawed, after all -- and hoped feverishly that the actress's brain still suffered from being knocked unconscious.

"See," Lanna pressed on, "so many people just saw you being captured by Fett. Surely they will spread the story around, and soon everybody will think the bounty on you has been collected already. I'll bring you to Dantooine; you can stay with friends there."

Slowly Dalaa nodded. "At least I wouldn't have to seduce those gross bounty hunters anymore," she sighed.

"Never again," Lanna promised, taking up the handcuffs. "I'll put these on you. They are only fake, see?" Lanna opened and closed them several times. "Then I'll walk you to the ship with my blaster pointed at you. I'm sorry I can't take out the ammo, but if another bounty hunter comes to steal you from me, I'll need it," Lanna added apologetically.

Carefully she fixed the cuffs on Dalaa's wrists and put the helmet back on.

"Act as if you're sedated," Lanna advised the actress. Then the two women stood up, and Lanna led her first bounty through the streets of Coronet City towards Fett's ship. _All too easy,_ she chuckled.

-------------------------------------------------------

As soon as the hatch had closed behind them, Lanna took off Dalaa's cuffs and led her to the cockpit. Lanna requested a slot for take off while she powered up the ship, hoping she looked as if she did this every day, and not only for the third time in her life. When the clearance came, Lanna took off with roaring engines, almost turning her landing pad into glass.

Only after she had pulled the hyperspace lever, did Lanna realize that with Dalaa aboard, she'd have to stay in Boba's armour the whole time. _TOS violation_, she thought. _Another twenty-four hours in a row in this stuff. I should have planned that better!_ She cast a side glance at Dalaa who seemed completely untroubled. _Maybe I can lock her up_.

"The flight will take about a day," she told her passenger. "I'll show you your quarters."

Dalaa followed her through the tight corridors of the vessel. "You can take off your armour now," she suggested. "It's kind of weird, you know."

"I never take off my armour in public," Lanna replied, not even bothering to turn her head.

"Why not?"

Lanna heard the steps behind her come to a stop. Peeved, she turned around, cocked her head she had seen Boba do a thousand times, and crossed her arms before her chest.

"With my armour, I am Boba Fett," she explained. "Without it I'm completely anonymous. There is not one person who would recognize my face."

"But -- but you're a woman!"

Lanna kept staring at Dalaa without answering.

"I saw you with the helmet down," Dalaa insisted. "I _know_ that you are not Fett."

Again, Lanna only stared, shifting her position into a challenging pose.

"You will not get away with this," Amee Dalaa said defiantly. "I will tell the whole galaxy!"

But they both knew that was an idle threat. Lanna grabbed Dalaa's arm and dragged her to a small room at the back of the ship. Thumping the door open, Lanna pushed the actress in. "I'll bring you something to eat and drink, but don't expect anything fancy."

On Dalaa's face, Lanna could see conflicting emotions struggling, as her prisoner came to the conclusion that the actress's usual charms would not work on her. _So much for the weapons of a woman, _Lanna thought.

--------------------------------------------------------

The trip to Tatooine was without incident. Dalaa did not try to seduce Lanna after a first glimpse at her boobs only made Lanna comment that the actress might want to wrap those up before they caught a cold. Dalaa had tried begging, threatening, bribing, and flattering in turn, none of which had any effect on Lanna. In the end she seemed to accept her fate with poor grace.

Lanna took the liberty of setting down the _Slave I_ almost on top of Jabba's palace. After threatening to knock Dalaa unconscious again if she didn't comply, Lanna led the actress to the main entrance. The gate was a huge construction of durasteel that rose automatically, as Lanna approached with her prisoner. Lanna stepped into the dim corridor leading into the castle, trying hard to strut. If somebody realized she was a Fett fake, it would be here.

But nobody seemed to mind. She was brought directly to Jabba the Hutt, who was fortunately positioned in a way that made it impossible to mix him with his subordinates. Lanna had never seen a Hutt before and realized that she'd rather not smell one again if it could be helped, either.

Emulating Fett's behaviour, she nodded curtly at the crime lord, then shoved Amee Dalaa to the centre. "The woman you requested," she stated.

Jabba said something in a strange language, and from behind him a protocol droid appeared hastily to translate.

"The mighty Jabba greets you, Boba Fett, and expresses his pleasure at retrieving the actress Amee Dalaa." _There had to be a glitch in the programming,_ Lanna thought, _because the droid twitched at random moments, as if somebody pulled invisible strings._

"At your service," Lanna replied. "My reward?"

"He's not Fett," Dalaa blurted out. "I saw it! When you take off the helmet, he's a _girl_!"

_As if that matteredi,_ Lanna thought mischievously. _All these people care about is a job well done and money. _She chuckled -- a noise that sounded strangely hollow and mirthless through the filters.

Jabba answered Dalaa's accusation with his deep laughter, and the small monkey with a beak almost fell of the dais laughing. Even the pale Twi'Lek ventured a tight smile as he handed Lanna the bounty. She bowed shortly towards the Hutt, turned on her heels, and strode out. This time Lanna actually turned some of the ground into glass as she took off in blaze,.

------------------------------------------------------

For once Lanna actually looked forward to returning home to Fett. A smirk stole onto her face whenever she thought of it, and she was happy the helmet hid it from the world in general. _This has been fun,_ she decided, as she ascended the stairs to her flat. _I can't understand why Fett gave that up._

As soon as the door closed behind her, Lanna tore off the helmet and grinned broadly at Boba, who seemed to have recovered and conveniently just had dinner ready. She placed the helmet on the table and sat down, then stretched her legs and crossed her ankles. She reached for his sandwich, almost lounging on her chair.

"There might be some very interesting rumours about you soon," she said with a big smirk, just before she took a big bite.


	13. Interlude 5

** Interlude 5 **

Deep inside his mind, Boba Fett knew that some of his wiring had been short-circuited wherever Lanna was concerned. _Lanna_-- the name alone seemed to have a golden halo, and that was not normal -- at least not if you weren't a synaesthete. And last time he checked he wasn't. Still, it had been like this from their very first meeting. He could remember that well. It had felt as if some kind of love fairy had crawled up behind him and hit him with a sledgehammer. That would also explain the malfunctions of his brain concerning Lanna.

He had believed that it would pass. And somehow they both had hoped, even after the confessions of Mr. Lorret, that sooner or later the effect would wear off. It hadn't. He watched Lanna over the kitchen table, a smile tugging at his lips -- no, it hadn't worn off at all over the last twenty years.

One could only say that it had rubbed off on Lanna a bit. She had become as much in two minds about him as he had felt about her from the start. It was no use denying that he loved her -- there wasn't anything he wouldn't do for her -- but there was that small part of him that still wondered whether he actually _liked_ her. He had the feeling, though, that she, on the other hand, didn't love him at all, but somehow had come to rather like him over the years.

Right now, she was getting his Mandalorian armour back into working condition. After her first successful bounty hunt, Lanna had been using it every now and then when the money ran low. Fett frowned on that, but there was little he could do about it. Lanna looked just adorable with only her head sticking out of his armour. And he had to admit that peeling her out of it was a pleasure all its own.

"It's a very easily earned bounty," Lanna said as she placed the Manadlorian armour on the kitchen table. "The bounty head is a young male, wanted mostly for being stupid enough to mess with Haka Bell's security system like an amateur. Last known whereabouts in this sector, so it shouldn't take too long." 

"You know how I hate this," she continued, checking and double-checking the mechanics on the set of armour. "But we're short of money _again_. And I still can't find a decent job with you tagging along, and you are not even trying."

Of course, Lanna hadn't known that most of the bounties were needed for the upgrading and upkeep of the Mandalorian armour. Fett watched her brushing dust out of small crevices and hinges, oiling the latter meticulously. He was not sure whether to think her adorable when she acted like this, or highly annoying. To judge from her reactions towards him, annoying was most likely the correct choice.

But he could not. Try as he might, he could not find flaws in Lanna, even if he knew there were enough -- being rash, for one, and prejudiced, and, even after all those years together, still annoyed with him. _But wasn't she sweet, with that look of concentration on her face when she refilled the tank of the flamethrower?_

Lanna capped the tank again, carefully wiping a drop of stray fuel away. Then she looked at Boba. "I don't think I can go on like this for much longer, I'm getting too old," she told him. "Maybe you can think of a better way of earning money while I'm away."

Fett nodded absentmindedly, watching as Lanna changed unabashedly from her clothes into the armour. A tiny voice in his head remarked that this second job had at least forced Lanna to keep in shape so she fit into the preformed parts. Then the aforementioned parts closed tightly over Lanna's body, and, as if that caused some internal change as well, her face became an emotionless mask.

"I'm off," Lanna announced, taking the helmet from the table. Putting it on, she nodded in Fett's direction and turned to leave.

After the door had closed behind her, Boba stared at it for a while, wondering how it had come to this._ Nothing to be done about that anymore_, he thought resignedly. _She's just being Boba Fett again._


End file.
